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Issue: Vol. 5168 No. 3: 22 Jul. 2022
Type: Article
Published: 2022-07-22
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5168.3.8
Page range: 375-387
Abstract views: 712
PDF downloaded: 34

A new species of the genus Achalinus (Squamata: Xenodermidae) from Son La Province, Vietnam

Faculty of Forest Resources and Environmental Management, Vietnam National University of Forestry, Xuan Mai, Chuong My, Hanoi, Vietnam; Institute of Tropical Forest Research and Development, BT1-12, Van Khe Urban Area, La Khe Ward, Ha Dong District, Hanoi, Vietnam
AG Zoologischer Garten Köln, Riehler Strasse 173, D-50735 Cologne, Germany; Institute of Zoology, University of Cologne, Zülpicher Strasse 47b, D-50674 Cologne, Germany
Faculty of Forest Resources and Environmental Management, Vietnam National University of Forestry, Xuan Mai, Chuong My, Hanoi, Vietnam.
Faculty of Environmental Sciences, University of Science, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, 334 Nguyen Trai Road, Hanoi, Vietnam; Central Institute for Natural Resources and Environmental Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, 19 Le Thanh Tong, Hanoi, Vietnam; Department of Herpetology, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, New York 10024
Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, 18 Hoang Quoc Viet Road, Hanoi 10072, Vietnam. Graduate University of Science and Technology, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, 18 Hoang Quoc Viet Road, Cau Giay, Hanoi 10072, Vietnam.
Faculty of Forest Resources and Environmental Management, Vietnam National University of Forestry, Xuan Mai, Chuong My, Hanoi, Vietnam.
Karst forest morphology phylogeny taxonomy Van Ho District Reptilia

Abstract

A new snake of the genus Achalinus Peters, 1869 is described based on an adult male specimen from Son La Province, Vietnam. Achalinus vanhoensis sp. nov. can be distinguished from its congeners by a combination of the following characters: 1) maxillary teeth 32; 2) suture between the internasals distinctly longer than that between the prefrontals; 3) loreal fused with prefrontal, prefrontals stretch towards the supralabials; 4) dorsal scales in 25–23–23 rows, keeled; 5) supralabials six (left) and seven (right); 6) infralabials six; 7) temporals 2+2, the two anterior temporals in broad contact with eye; 8) ventrals 176; 9) subcaudals 84, entire; 10) cloacal entire; 11) dorsum in preservative dark purple grey above; 12) venter somewhat lighter with yellow-edged scales in the chin region, including infralabials; 13) posterior edges of ventrals and subcaudals with yellow margin. In the molecular analysis, the new species is recovered as a sister taxon of Achalinus timi, a species endemic to Vietnam, and genetically the two species are around 5% divergent from each other based on a fragment of the mitochondrial COI gene. This discovery brings the number of Achalinus species known from Vietnam to nine.

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